Crociera d'amore

"Trade Winds" is a comedy-drama starring Joan Bennett, Frederic March, Ralph Bellamy, and Ann Sothern, directed by Tay Garnett.

Bennett plays Kay Kerrigan, a young woman who is out to avenge her sister's death and goes after her sister's ex-boyfriend (Sidney Blackmer). When Kay says she wishes she could shoot him, he hands her a gun and she shoots. Then she starts running for her life. To change her appearance, she dyes her hair dark. This turned out to be a boon for Bennett, who took on an exciting new look with the dark hair.

The police send one of their own after her, Ben Blodgett (Ralph Bellamy) and one of their ex-own, the womanizing, slippery Sam Wye (March), now a detective who spends a lot of time coming on to women. He's also romancing his secretary Jean (Ann Sothern). He agrees to search for Kay and manages to get away from from Jean and hop a boat. He gets a line on Kay, and when Jean next appears, she's an assistant to Kay. Then Sam finds out there's a $100,000 award on Kay's head. Small problem - he falls madly in love with Kay.

Fun comedy that slows up in the middle, with good performances by a relaxed March, a very funny Sothern, a lovely Bennett, and Bellamy as an overblown police detective. Not the best, but not bad - except for some of the process shots.

"Trade Winds" has some enjoyable moments. This Tay Garnett-directed independent feature has the beautiful and talented Joan Bennett as a murderess on the run in the Orient pursued by a skirt-chasing former policeman played by a very miscast Fredric March. The film veers from whodunit, to travelogue, to screwball comedy, to romance, to courtroom drama without much consistency. Because the major emphasis is on comedy and romance, the film needs the versatility of a Fred MacMurray in the lead. Although a fine actor, March is out of his element in a role that requires a lighter touch.

The usually reliable Ralph Bellamy, who excelled as the proverbial light comic "other man" in classics like "His Girl Friday," "The Awful Truth," and "Brother Orchid," ends up as an oafish buffoon of a policeman of the type often played by Edgar or Tom Kennedy. His performance clashes with March's and at times he seems out of an alternative universe. Although Ann Sothern has a very enjoyable drunk scene, she's underutilized, and the usually reliable Thomas Mitchell is given little to do but growl as a police commissioner... wasted in a role than would have usually gone to a William Frawley.

The film's inconsistencies are likely the fault of writer/director Tay Garnett, who had a lengthy but inconsistent career resume' with at least one masterpiece ("The Postman Always Rings Twice") to his credit. He did helm some films with similar elements to "Trade Winds": "One Way Passage" with Powell and Francis, "Seven Sinners" with Dietrich and Wayne, and "China Seas" with Gable and Harlow, but unfortunately Garnett never developed a consistent style, and by the 1950s he was directing TV Western series episodes like "Death Valley Days" and "Bonanza". With a steadier hand like a Howard Hawks at the helm, and more appropriate cast choices "Trade Winds" may have been a minor classic, but now it's just a curiosity. By the way, two interesting sidebars: Dorothy Parker (of Algonquin Round Table fame) was a collaborator on the script and the enigmatic Dorothy Comingore appears briefly here (under the name Linda Winters) several years before her triumph in "Citizen Kane."

Detective (March) goes on globe-hopping quest to return suspected murderess (Bennett) to authorities. He's aided by two bumblers (Sothern & Bellamy), at the same time he falls for his attractive quarry.

Not quite a sophisticated comedy, not quite a picaresque chase, not quite a murder mystery- - all add up to a not very good movie. Hard to believe this is from glossy MGM since the production values are nearly incompetent. In fact, I've seen better process shots from a Lash LaRue oater, and since these make up half the movie, you've got to wonder where quality control was.

I'm assuming acerbic wit Dorothy Parker and husband Alan Campbell were hired to furnish sophisticated banter for the two couples. If so, I must have missed it. What I did hear were subtle grammar gaffes from Sothern (e.g. 'whom for 'who') and clever malaprops (e.g. 'deduct' for 'deduce') from Bellamy, intended, I guess, to show their humorous pretensions, but hardly crowd-pleasers.

Also, it looks like Bellamy's buffoonish cop amounts to a typical example of 30's cops when Hollywood treated them as low-comedy relief. And whose idea was it to tack on the last 10-minutes of whodunit that sort of sticks out like a glued on appendage.

Where the movie does work is with the lovely Bennett and the comedically gifted Sothern. Still, it's a bit puzzling why the movie didn't turn out better given the talent involved, including ace producer Walter Wanger. Maybe it has to do with as many as four writers and who knows how many re-writes or with director Garnett's inability to forge a unifying style. But, whatever the reason, the film remains a somewhat unlikely disappointment.

Was there ever a more relaxed, charming rogue than Frederic March? He would have been a perfect James Bond, had the role been available to him in the '30s. As it is, he made do spectacularly with this one: he's Sam Wye, a former SFPD detective, hired to find and bring back the luminous Joan Bennett, who's suspected of murdering Sidney Blackmer... When her car goes into the Bay, she swims ashore and goes on the run... The action roves as the trade winds of the title, straying from the piers of the city by the Bay to Honolulu, Singapore, Tokyo, Hanoi, and Colombo, Ceylon. Ralph Bellamy,side-hick to March, sez: "Colombo? I thought that was in Ohio..." Ann Sothern is glamorous, and Joan Bennett sizzles. This is the movie in which she dyed her hair black -- and then kept it dark for the next 50 years...leaving the blonde Bennett roles to sister Constance. As a glimpse of pre-War Asia, and an insight into the world before terrorism, this is a charming and lovely memory. You'll yearn for the time when cruise attire was more than sweatsuits and sneakers...and all this with dialog by Dorothy Parker!

I first saw this movie as a teen eons ago while my parents were busy playing cards at the home of friends, and have loved it ever since. Since my last viewing was over 20 years ago, I would love to have this on DVD to enjoy it again! I love all the characters, and lovely Joan Bennett indeed looked SMASHING as a brunette, which she kept for the rest of her long career. Very appealing was the insouciance of Fredric March's character, the smart humor of bubbly Ann Sothern's part, and the determined dorkiness of Ralph Bellamy's eager beaver character plus an interesting and engaging story.

Let's get this released, people that have the say-so!